Cutting-edge research at the University of Alberta will get a little sharper after an injection of $2 million in federal funding.

Nine U of A projects in the faculties of medicine and dentistry; science; engineering; and agricultural, life and environmental sciences will benefit from the money announced Monday by Science Minister Kirsty Duncan.

Michael Overduin with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, will use some of the funds to help understand the atomic behaviour of illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and infection. As the lead for the National High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre, which houses one of the most sophisticated research magnets in the country, Overduin studies the molecular structures and interactions of proteins that drive cancer progression and infection. By tracking how these proteins bind molecules, he hopes to design new therapeutic agents to fight diseases that currently lack effective treatments.

“This investment in Canadian science will allow us to see the altered proteins involved in human disease with the resolution, sensitivity and speed needed to design new therapeutic agents,” said Overduin. “It has also prompted the launch of DiscoveryLab as a collaborative venture for drug discovery research.”

The investment was made through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund, designed to help universities attract and retain researchers from around the world.

Other U of A researchers to receive funding include:

Todd Alexander, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry — Funding will permit the Alexander laboratory to build an apparatus capable of making measurements of salt, calcium and water fluxes across specific kidney tubule segments. This will enable researchers to both understand and develop potential therapies for high blood pressure and kidney stones.

Richard Fahlman and Larry Fliegel, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry — A number of human diseases are the result of misfolded proteins accumulating as deposits in the organs of the body, and if untreated, these protein aggregates can lead to organ failure and eventual death. The grant will allow the development of an entirely new method to rapidly identify protein deposits by mass spectrometry imaging.

Basil Hubbard, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry — Hubbard’s research will focus on studying lysine acylation, a small chemical modification that normally tunes protein function but becomes deregulated during aging. With the help of funding, his lab will develop therapeutics to prevent and reverse abnormal acylation in order to treat common age-related diseases such as cancer.

Claudio Kopper, Faculty of Science — The money will help Kopper create a high-performance cluster that will nearly double the nation’s capacity in GPU-based parallel computing. In doing so, he will unlock the ability to further the study of the properties of neutrinos, one of nature’s most elusive fundamental particles.

Florence Williams, Faculty of Science — Using metal catalysis, Williams is developing a new method to control a single reaction type in the midst of a living cell. This will allow her to examine protein interactions related to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Barb Thomas, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences — Funding will help Thomas’s lab work, aimed at understanding how commercial tree species respond to changing climate and environmental conditions, and helping the forest industry and government tree breeders select the most resilient trees for reforestation.

Jens Walter, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences — One of the central goals of Walter’s research program is to translate basic scientific discoveries regarding the microbial communities (the microbiome) that line the intestines into innovative microbiome-modulating therapies to optimize health. His team intends to establish a translational pipeline that will allow the systematic identification of microbes that induce metabolic, immunological and epigenetic benefits when administered into the gastrointestinal tract, and develop them into therapies for obesity and multiple sclerosis.

Prashant Waghmare, Faculty of Engineering — Waghmare’s Interfacial Science and Surface Engineering Lab (iSSELab) is dedicated to identifying the role of interfacial forces in numerous industrial processes. Funding will help the iSSELab have the capability to characterize interfacial and wetting properties at high pressure and temperature.

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